After months of leaks and speculations and pages upon pages of explanations BlackBerry has finally put the PRIV up for preorders.
In recent months, publications and enthusiasts covered almost every leak, every angle concerning the BlackBerry PRIV. Well, the time for speculations and rumors is over for last Friday, Oct. 23, 2015, BlackBerry confirmed that it has commenced taking preorders for the PRIV.
#PRIV - Pre-order yours today https://t.co/XhGsqtfGoT pic.twitter.com/aMMmENYw7z
— BlackBerry (@BlackBerry) October 23, 2015
Interested parties in Canada, the U.K. and the U.S. will be able to preorder the device through BlackBerry's listed regional retailers. For Canada, Rogers and ShopBlackBerry, which will sell the PRIV for $899 CDN, are the designated outlets.
People from the U.K. can preorder through Carphone Warehouse and ShopBlackBerry (£559 inclusive of VAT) while those in the U.S. can preorder from ShopBlackBerry U.S., which will price the new handheld at $699 USD. Interested parties from countries that were not listed are encouraged to watch out for BlackBerry's announcement.
"We'll continue to update you in real time on your local availability," BlackBerry advises. "Be sure to register for updates at BlackBerry.com/PrivacyOn, and stay tuned to our official social media channels for the news as it hits."
As you may or may have not noticed, the new BlackBerry smartphone is priced a little bit higher than the entry level of the current-generation iPhone and Samsung's current flagship devices.
For the premium price, buyers will be getting a solidly built phone with a 5.43-inch curved QHD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 32 GB of Flash storage and a microSD expansion slot capable of up to 2 TB, a 3410-mAh battery pack, 18 MP main camera, 2 MP front-facing shooter, 4G LTE connectivity and the unique slide out physical keyboard.
And while the specs do not sound compelling for the prices that it is listed at, the security integrations that BlackBerry implemented on Android for the PRIV should more than make up for the price. In fact, people who will buy this device will be those who are gunning for the security and privacy features.
"I committed that we would release an Android phone only if we could make it, like everything else we produce: secure. We have — and so today is that day," said BlackBerry CEO John Chen.
However, there are those who aren't convinced. Nonetheless, questions regarding how the new BlackBerry device performs on Android and concerns regarding its security features will be answered when the first batch of users get their hands on it after the preorder units gets shipped on Nov. 6.
